Reimagining an icon

Since the 1870s, Sydney’s fish markets have been the beating heart of the city’s seafood industry.

Evolving from the first Woolloomooloo market to today’s world-class destination in Blackwattle Bay, the new Sydney Fish Market has been synonymous with the sound of early-morning auctions and the bounty of the ocean.

The new Sydney Fish Market has preserved its identity as a cultural institution, embodying a sense of pride and place for generations of fishers, chefs, and families who converge on the edge of Sydney’s harbour.

This has been an incredibly complex build, and the result is a spectacular purpose-built fish market that both Sydney and our industry can be proud of. We are thrilled to welcome the world to experience it.

Location

  • Sydney, Australia

Client

Architect

  • 3XN and BVN

Project status

  • Completed

Turning vision into structure

By the 2020s, this beloved institution had outgrown its previous home in Blackwattle Bay. The NSW Government envisioned something bold: a new market that honours Sydneysiders’ connection to the water while embracing the future.

The ambition was clear: deliver a world-class market hall that celebrates transparency, sustainability, and public life on the waterfront.

The new Sydney Fish Market represents the kind of multidisciplinary problem solving our Property & Buildings teams relish, bringing architecture, complex structure, and a sense of place together to work as one.

As primary structural engineer, WSP partnered with Multiplex throughout the tender, detailed design and delivery phases to transform the architects’ bold concept into buildable reality. The challenge? To construct an iconic 80,000-square-metre building over four levels in Sydney Harbour, with a submerged basement and the largest timber canopy roof of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere.

Working closely with the Multiplex team, engineering solutions were developed to deliver this iconic building on a challenging maritime site. The construction methodology for the below harbour basement involved lowering of the harbour level by around five metres within a perimeter cofferdam and then constructing a watertight basement with a 100-year design life. The design integration and construction of the long span timber roof was carried out in collaboration with Italian glulam supplier and fabricator, Rubner.

 

img-sydney-fish-market-02 

 

A roof like no other 

The architectural vision called for a building that feels open and connected—a theatre of operations where wholesale auctions and retail bustle are visible to all. Above it, a sweeping timber canopy floats like a wave, defining the skyline and creating a civic space for an estimated 6 million visitors each year.

The canopy is a feat of timber engineering: 

  • Over 200 m long 
  • Composing circa 600 glulam beams
  • Supporting circa 400 prefabricated cassettes
  • Integrated solar PV, rainwater harvesting, and daylighting strategies 
  • Designed to create a naturally ventilated, light-filled market hall
  • 20,000 m2 roof the size of approx. four football fields 

 

img-sydney-fish-market-03

 

Impact beyond the structure 

The new Sydney Fish Market delivers more than architecture: 

  • 6,000 m2 of public space reconnects the foreshore and invites community life 
  • A destination expected to welcome 6 million visitors annually, boosting tourism and local economy

From vision to reality, connect with our experts to learn how we're building for a sustainable future. 
 

Ross Clarke
Australia

Images courtesy of NSW Government

Daniel Jarosch image courtesy of Sydney Fish Market

 

Other challenges that we have overcome